Well it is official.

The World Series for the 2009 season will feature the defending champion Philadelphia Phillies squaring off against the New York Yankees.

The Yankees defeated a careless Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim team last night 5-2 in New York to return to the World Series for the first time since 2003.

Today I continue my “stars” column, where I will select one player as my “star” of the game.

Keep in mind that this is my personal opinion only.

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim @ New York Yankees (Yankees Lead 3-2)

Andy Pettitte

Andy Pettitte, the 37 year old left hander who has been with the Yankees through thick and thin, only leaving for a partial stint with the Houston Astros from 2004-2006 pitched magically again last night, as he always seems to do during the postseason.

Pettitte, a four time World Series champion and 2001 ALCS Most Valuable Player boasts 16 wins (not including last night) in the postseason, the most in postseason history. If you were tuned into the game last night you can understand why Pettitte holds this record.

For some strange reason Pettitte is more than his normally exceptional self in the postseason. Pettitte is my opinion a real holder of the title “Mr.October” as he mows down hitters with a combination of a deadly cut fastball and nasty slider that causes a lot of bat breaking or swinging misses.

Last night in New York was no different for Pettitte, as he pitched his most important game of the 2009 season, lasting six and a third innings, giving up one earned run on seven hits, walking one and striking out six.

The lone run allowed came at the hands of former Yankee Bobby Abreu who singled in Jeff Mathis in the top of the third inning for one of the two Angels runs on the evening.

The masterful pitching performance by Pettitte allowed for the high powered Yankee offense to do what they do best and that is score runs.

The Yankee offense knocked Angels starter Joe Saunders out of the game early in the fourth inning scoring three runs on the left hander after he allowed the bases to become loaded.

The Yankees used a “hoopla” of errors and poor all around play from the normally disciplined Angels to keep and grow their lead allowing for closer Mariano Rivera to finish out the series with two strong innings.

The big money experiment of signing Mark Teixiera, CC Sabathia & AJ Burnett along with the re-signs of veterans Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada and Andy Pettitte over the past two seasons for the Yankees have paid off for the Steinbrenner family as the Yankees travel back to the promised land to try and obtain their twenty seventh World Series championship.

Andy Pettitte, you are very deserving of my “star” of the game as you once again showed that age does not matter when the determination and will to win is still burning in your body.

The World Series officially gets underway Wednesday in New York at New Yankee Stadium.

The start time of the game has not yet been determined by Major League Baseball.